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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 3

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 61 fense, I think he'll be a good play- er." Worship, who earned the of- fense's scout team award at the end-of-the-year banquet, continued to work on his body during the sea- son. And though his weight room numbers weren't released, what he was doing impressed. "You can see out here (at prac- tice) he's a big, physical dude, and he's just doing some stupid (good) stuff in the weight room," Jones said. "He's really going to be fun to watch. I'm excited." WIDE RECEIVER The Boilermakers didn't have any receivers in the freshman class but did have a pair of junior college newcomers in the corps in 2015, Domonique Young and Anthony Mahoungou. Both showed flash- es during practices and early in games, but it was Young who even- tually emerged. By the end of the year, Young was logging significant snaps as a starter. In Young's final three games, he had the bulk of his season's produc- tion, 14 catches for 216 yards. His season totals: 21 catches, 276 yards. "Early, there weren't a whole lot of plays for him. It was kind of spo- radic and there were still things he was learning, learning the pace of practice, things that just come with time. That's all caught up to him now," receivers coach Gerad Park- er said in late-November. "Now, he doesn't have to think, so he's play- ing fast, executing at a high level and there's no thought there. He's playing full speed all the time." Young's breakout performance was at Northwestern. On Purdue's first snap, he caught a 68-yard touchdown pass, his only scoring reception of the season, and fin- ished the game with 107 yards on a career-high-tying five catches. He averaged 13.1 yards per catch on the season, showcasing some of the big-play potential he had as a sophomore at Cerritos College in L.A. "(I) definitely grew a lot," Young said late in the season of his prog- ress during his first season. "I think I've become a more polished route runner and just little things I've learned, playing the game within the game, reading coverages faster and getting off press and keeping people's hands off me. The growth has come a long way from summer until now. Just got to keep it going." Mahoungou, a much more raw prospect but also only a sophomore in 2015, had four catches for 59 yards on, unofficially, only 14 snaps in the season opener against Mar- shall. But he had only four more catches the rest of the season, nev- er playing more than 20 snaps in a game after that and playing as few as one in the finale. Part of that had to do with Ma- houngou's spot: Leading receiver DeAngelo Yancey also was playing on the left side. Part of it had to do with Mahoungou's development. "He's one of the more unique guys I've coached because he was raw in some areas, had natural ball skills and some things, but every- thing you told him, to a T, he was following it. So he was real, real Tom Campbell Purdue figured it wouldn't need much help on the interior line with an upperclass- men-heavy two-deep to start the season, but freshman Eddy Wilson's rise was too much to ignore.

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